I was in the mountains this weekend and was driving down the highway just outside Estes Park (beautiful drive if you ever get to Colorado). I saw a shop with rustic furniture for sale outside. But what caught my eye were several HUGE planks of wood leaning against the building. I wasn’t sure if they were demo pieces or if he sold them separately.
I pulled in to the Pine Cone Furniture woodshop and asked about the planks out front. He said the big ones were on sale for $75 and the littler ones were on sale for $40. Seemed a little steep but I wanted to look a little closer. The board I liked was a full 25” across and 97” long. To top it off they were all 8/4 thickness. I calculated the board feet and came up with roughly 33.36 bf for the cost of $75. It was about $2.25 per board foot for some amazing wood. Very few knots with only a little loss on the edges since they were the wood just under the bark.
Now, here in Colorado we are suffering from a terrible pine beetle kill off. While it is terrible that these trees are dying, it makes finding good pine super easy. As a result of the beetle abuse, the dead wood takes on a blue stain that remains in the wood. Take a look at my Whale Box and my Pod box for illustrations of dramatic staining! So you end up with streaks and whole sections of wood that have built-in color. This was a Lodgpole Pine which means the grain is very straight with few imperfections. You can seen in the pictures that there is a wane in the plank. I don’t think it would detract from a big piece. If I split the board into smaller sections I may have to take that wane into account.
Now the problem. What do I do with a board this big? It begs to be a meeting/conference table but could also be a long coffee table with enough left over for a lamp table or two as well.
Thougts? Ideas? Recommendations? I’m listening.
-- Behind the Bark is a lot of Heartwood----Charles, Centennial, CO
14 comments so far
woodworm
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8184 posts in 483 days
posted 120 days ago
You already built a lot of very beautiful boxes, mostly band-sawn. Don’t you want to try to make pine table? Would be nice if you could show us the picture of the big board.
-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.
dougdeg
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66 posts in 663 days
posted 120 days ago
Hi
Here in Michigan we get lots of the blue stain pine, If you don’t get it pickup of the ground and dried right away it will get the the fungus right away. make it look great.
Love the stuff
-- Doug Cedar Log Furniture, www.cedar-stuff.com
Kent Shepherd
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805 posts in 179 days
posted 120 days ago
As great as your boxes are, I would think twice about reducing such a nice big slab to small pieces.
A table comes to mind first, or maybe a front door if you have the right equipment. The thickness works for that. Can’t wait to see what you do. It will be awesome!
-- Kent Shepherd * The goal is-----More Tools!
EEngineer
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274 posts in 506 days
posted 120 days ago
I second the coffee table/end tables. 24” (finished) would be a little thin but usuable; 96” is real long for a coffee table; 24” is kind of wide for end tables (unless your living room is a lot bigger than mine). Maybe a couple of end cuts on the 96” length would leave a decent length for the coffee table and two end tables.
Pictures didn’t show up so it is tough to say. How much would the wane affect all of this?
-- "Find out what you cannot do and then go do it!"
jockmike2
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7299 posts in 1139 days
posted 120 days ago
I’d love to see a big table made from it. I think the straight grain and few imperfections would lead me in that direction.
-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com
matt garcia
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716 posts in 565 days
posted 120 days ago
I’ll send you a PM with my ship to address, you can give it to me!!!
-- Matt, Houston Texas
Don K.
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1095 posts in 219 days
posted 120 days ago
Matt beat me to it…I was going to suggest since you were having such a rough time deciding…to just let me handle it for you..lol
-- Don S.E. OK
miles125
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1418 posts in 898 days
posted 120 days ago
I say a big fish! See in my projects.
-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""
Durnik150
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536 posts in 214 days
posted 120 days ago
I’m going to try to import a couple photos from photobucket:
http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt114/Durnik150/BigBoard1.jpg
http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt114/Durnik150/BigBoard2.jpg
http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt114/Durnik150/BigBoard3.jpg
I hope this works. And I’ll keep my eyes open for more suggestions. Well, suggestons that don’t involve me shipping or giving away the board!
-- Behind the Bark is a lot of Heartwood----Charles, Centennial, CO
MedicKen
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457 posts in 355 days
posted 120 days ago
If ya cant find a project you could send it to me….....
-- My job is to give my kids things to discuss with their therapist....medic20447@gmail.com
Karson
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25793 posts in 1293 days
posted 120 days ago
Good luck on your creation. I don’t have any suggestion in mind.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
Durnik150
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536 posts in 214 days
posted 120 days ago
Miles. Nice fish!! If I made a fish out of this board it would have to be a Marlin! I like the creativity though. Even if I decide on a table top for this piece there is nothing that says it has to be a rectangle! I might not go as far as making it fish shaped but your suggestion opens my eyes to that it doesn’t have to be a “normal” shape.
I definitely won’t cut it down to make boxes from it. I like the idea of the door although I would have to reinforce my hinges to hold it up. As it is now it weighs about 100 pounds! There are a few beetle tracks in there that I will have to take out but I don’t think it will be difficult.
Thanks everyone!
-- Behind the Bark is a lot of Heartwood----Charles, Centennial, CO
propcarver
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50 posts in 722 days
posted 119 days ago
There are solid body guitar builders on the TeleCaster Forum that like pine for the bodies. Here are a few links with a bit of info.
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaster-discussion-forum/82576-simpson-pine-partscaster.html
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/151309-colts-first-pinecaster.html
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/169992-pine-body.html
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/171337-pine-tele-1-4-sawn-body.html
If you make a few and don’t know what to do with them you could post them in the “For Sale” area.
http://www.tdpri.com/phpclassifieds/
Regards,
Bill
Jim Crockett
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319 posts in 626 days
posted 119 days ago
Looks and sounds about the right size for a couch table – one that sits behind a couch. Nice find!
Jim